Exiled, Voluntarily
by watram
Summary: While in California, Jess bumps into someone who belonged to the life he ran from. It turns it he's not the only one who's missing a Stars Hollow girl. One-shot, set in early season 4.


A/N: I always wondered what it would be like if Jess and Dave bumped into each other in California, because sending them both there without any agenda is just such a waste. And then I put Lily into the mix just because I adore her... So I started this months ago and couldn't finish. And today I finally felt like continuing it. And then I found out it's Adam Brody's birthday. Jess-centric though, because hey, it's me.

Disclaimer: There you go, dear story, I've created you, now I disown you.

* * *

He thought he was getting Lily a cool birthday present.

She thought so too. The kid was over the moon, really. One, she was getting to see Björk live. Two, she was going with Jess. Jess. The coolest person she knew. He was always amused and a bit disturbed by how she seemed to look up to him. He was about as far from being role model material as one could get.

Amazingly, he appreciated her too. She was exceptionally sharp for a ten year-old, even if she decided not to reveal it most of the time.

So he got her a ticket to see Björk.

Sasha and Jimmy were okay with it, even though he did have to repeat that Lily was going to be completely safe more than a few times.

They seemed to trust him with her. That was another weird thing.

They went and had a great time. But they weren't the kind of people who show their emotions so they only exchanged smirks (Lily, to her mother's amusement, learnt that facial expression from her newly found step-brother and mastered it surprisingly quickly).

Walking out of the venue with his hands in the pockets of his jacket and Lily next to him, her face slightly flushed from the excitement; he heard someone calling after him.

"Jess?"

To say that Dave Rygalski was the last person he expected to meet in L.A. would be a lie. He didn't really give the guy a fleeting thought since he left Stars freaking Hollow. He was surprised. Not entirely unpleasantly though.

"Hey," he answered turning around to face Dave and placing a hand on Lily's elbow to stop her from walking.

"Wow," the taller of the boys said awkwardly . "Small world or what. Good to see you man," Dave smiled and extended his hand to shake Jess's.

Jess obliged. "Aren't you supposed to be on the other side of the country?" he asked curiously.

"I had to move. College," he explained. Glancing towards Lily who was eyeing him thoroughly, he gave her a friendly smile. "Hi. I'm Dave."

"Lily," the girl replied.

"My step-sister," Jess nodded towards her.

"Well, very nice to meet you, Lily," Dave said and shook her hand, making her blush. Jess frowned and smirked a little. "Great concert, wasn't it?"

"It was cool," Lily nodded sincerely.

"I didn't figure Björk was your kind of thing."

"It wasn't until tonight," Dave agreed. "I write concert reviews for the college paper, so, you know, this was kind of an assignment."

"Cool."

"Yeah. Cool." The awkward silence that fell after that was remedied by a constant stream of people coming out of the venue and bumping into all three of them. By the time they moved to the side of the boardwalk, Dave thought of something to say. Unfortunately, it was the exact question that Jess was hoping to somehow miraculously avoid. "So what about you, Jess?" Dave started. "I didn't know you were in California. I mean, I knew you left town and Lane mentioned something about killing you, but I didn't know you have family here."

"Well, neither did I," Jess answered, suddenly tense.

"Oh," Dave's jaw fell a little, making him look more than a little sorry and uncomfortable.

"Who's Lane?" Lily interrupted.

The guitarist-turned-writer's expression got even more helpless as he seemingly struggled for words.

"A mutual friend," Jess decided to help the guy out.

"Oh. How do you two know each other, anyway?"

"Lily," Jess sent her a meaningful look, trying to get her to stop asking questions.

"No! I've known you for four months and I know nothing about you!" she insisted.

"Well, Lily," Dave addressed her, finding his voice again, "my ex-girlfriend, Lane, and Jess's..."

"... Ex-girlfriend." It was the first time he actually said it, and it stung. He wasn't ready to let go yet. He _did_, technically, but still...

"... they are best friends. We lived in the same town for a while."

"Ha! I knew there was a girl!" the ten-year-old exclaimed, triumphantly looking at her brother, who in turn rolled his eyes. "So, you lived in the same town thousands of miles away from here, your girlfriends were best friends and now you meet here? That's freaky," she declared.

"Yeah, it kind of is," Dave agreed thoughtfully.

Jess did too, but he didn't say anything, he was too busy inwardly cursing for having another thing he wanted to share with Rory, but he couldn't. It's been months, but it kept happening to him – thinking of her in the most random moments, wanting to give her some book suggestions or play her some albums from Jimmy's extensive collection. He missed talking to her.

Which was ironic, because talking was exactly what he was avoiding most of the time when he was with her.

But now certainly wasn't the time to reflect on that; he wasn't alone, he was standing on a now emptying sidewalk with a guy who was looking rather miserable at a mention of one Lane Kim and a kid who was curiously looking back and forth between the two of them.

"So, ex, huh?" he asked Dave, with – surprisingly – empathy in his voice. "Mrs Kim kicked your ass across the country?"

Dave smiled a little. "Nah, the funny thing is that it had nothing to do with her. I didn't even plan this, you know. I kind of miss her now," he added as an afterthought.

Jess genuinely laughed out, putting Lily in a state of shock. "Mama Kim?"

"Well," Dave's smile faded. "Not Mama Kim, necessarily," he looked down and fiddled with the zip of his jacket. When he lifted his head again, his face expressed nothing but resigned melancholy. "I'm an idiot," he stated quietly, with a sad smile. "I spent months trying to get a girl, then I got her, even her mother started warming up to me, and then I left. I didn't even get a chance to tell her that I..." he trailed off, looking away.

"Yeah," Jess sighed, too caught up in applying what Dave was saying to his own situation to scold himself for it. "Me too."

That was the closest he ever came to admitting out loud that he loved Rory Gilmore, and he was saying it to her best friend's ex-boyfriend. It really didn't get any more pathetic than that.

Dave, however, gave him an understanding smile.

"A couple of losers, aren't we?" Jess chuckled self-depreciatively, shaking his head.

"Tell me about it. Prime song-writing material."

"Well, take advantage of that, man," Jess joked good-naturedly. "We better get going, I promised to get this one home by eleven," he looked down at Lily who met his gaze and smiled at him.

"Bye Dave," the girl extended her hand, wanting to take the initiative this time, and the two guys exchanged smirks.

"Pleasure to meet you, Lily. Good to see you," he shook Jess's hand as well.

"Bye."

For the first time since Rory, he felt like he wanted to drag the conversation out a little more, ask about what was going on in Stars Hollow after he left, but it was out of his hands now. They parted with final half-smiles, but apparently Dave felt the same because his voice stopped them again after several steps..

"Hey, Jess?" He turned around, walking backwards. "You wanna meet up for some self-loathing at some point?"

Jess raised his eyebrows. He was slightly surprised when, "Sure," easily came out of his mouth.

"Here on Wednesday," Dave called out. "I've got an extra ticket to Yeah Yeah Yeahs!"

"I'll see you then!"

One more nod and he was gone.

"He's cool," Lily said when they started walking.

"Yeah, he's pretty cool."

Cool. Cool. Cool. Frank at the freaking Sands.

"Now, don't look so sad. You're cool, too."

He smirked. "Thanks, Lil."

Yeah. Maybe he wasn't _that_ alone.

* * *

A/N: This is the most 'cool' I've ever used in my life. Review? That'd be cool.


End file.
